Ty the Tasmanian Tiger: Code of the Bunyip Keepers
by Spencer Quinn
Summary: (I wasn't planning to use this title) After receiving a strange message from the Bunyip Elder, the Bush Rescue team set off to find the missing pieces of their past which haunts their lives. Meanwhile the same message has been sent to the Demon Eye Resistance and they set off to find what haunts them. Crappy summary, sorry. But I hope you enjoy! ;)
1. Prologue: The true reign of Boss Cass

**Hello, everybody! This is Spence here. I'm doing this story in two places at once (I've got it started on my DeviantArt account) but tell me what you all think of the prologue. This is just a cliff-hanger for what will happen later in the series. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Prologue: The true reign of Boss Cass**

"Now to finally restore the natural order once and for all—" Boss Cass announced.

A Deadlyrang flew for his head, then Ridge caught it casually in his right hand—the hand with the white Bunyip Gauntlet encased in it. He smirked at the cassowary's expression, which had been contorted from anger to...something even worse than that, sending chills through the mammals' warm blood.

"This is it! This is what we've all fought for!" Ty shouted to his team as they got into position in different points on the grounded hexagram. Shazza, Mikey, Terra and Wings lifted the four Bunyip Stones in the air. Ty, Sly, Ridge, Plat and Vite held their hands with the gauntlets up in the air.

However, things started to get out of hand fairly quickly. Once the stones were in place, they began to glow—so far so good—but then the light was absorbed by something similar to darkness. Not just that, but the five gauntlets began to flicker out of power too.

Now Sly was the one to start panicking. "Bro, the stones aren't working!" he exclaimed.

"Neither are the Gauntlets!" Plat exclaimed as her blue gauntlet flickered. "Struth, what is up with these things!"

BOOM!

"Agh!" Wings shrieked as an invisible force made them all fly backwards—some blacking out from the repercussions of the force, and others more or less in pain from the landing. The parrot shook his head and looked around, his vision slightly blurred and his ears ringing, seeing little shards of what seemed like red, yellow, green and blue crystals. The Bunyip Stones...or whatever was left of them. "Did the stones just implode on themselves?" he queried, struggling to his feet.

"Aw, come on. It couldn't just end like this!" Vite shouted, lying still on the ground. He was beginning to panic now—he didn't exactly want to die now. Plat just dragged him to his feet, where he stumbled and almost tripped and fell on his face.

"Balance, please, Vite," Plat said. "You okay?"

"I think I just knocked out the better half of my brain 'cause I think I have pins and needles in my legs," he replied, grabbing his leg and rubbing his kneecap. The cream-colored tiger sighed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, you're fine."

Terra got to her feet and walked over to Sly, waiting for him to at least move a muscle. Instead he just opened his eyes and looked at her in panic. The panic in his eyes worried his dingo friend a little.

"What, what's up?" she asked.

"I can't move," he murmured, the panic getting the better of him.

Terra bit down on her fingers. She remembered distinctly the medical classes she took back home before she joined the Resistance. Something about spinal injuries and then direct force to head or neck. "You landed on your head, didn't you?" the pink-haired dingo said knowingly.

"Possum!" Shazza cried as she ran over to kneel in front of her boyfriend, who wasn't moving at all—his chest signified that he wasn't breathing, and the gash on his forehead spoke volumes.

"Wait, is he okay?" Sly asked in worry as Terra propped him up. All this worry was probably going to overwhelm him—and that wasn't going to be good for him, taking into account that either his head will explode or he was going to pass out. But one thing's for sure, Terra didn't want him sleeping on the job!

Especially when Boss Cass was _so_ close to winning!

"He will be, he's the kid with the only working gauntlet. Remember?" Plat said reassuringly. Quick as anything, a golden glow shone in the gash on Ty's head, making it seal closed like it wasn't there to begin with. A gasp escaped his throat and he bolted upright.

"Wings! Get the townies out of here now!" Mikey ordered as he helped Ridge to his feet

"No problems there. Pop!" the messenger shouted, flying off quickly for the dungeons.

"Sly?" Ty asked, moving over to kneel next to his brother. The rusty tiger tried to tell him that he was fine but then the damage started to kick in and he couldn't breathe.

"Calm down, mate, no talking!" Plat demanded. Trust her to be like this when somebody was hurt.

"How do we get these gauntlets working again?" Vite asked. "If we get enough power into them we could stop Cass!"

"In order to do that, we'd need the Bunyip Stones, wouldn't we?" Ridge asked.

Plat facepalmed. She was out of ideas too. And the hopes of winning was slowly slipping out of their control.

* * *

**Yeah, I'm sorry it's so short, but I'll soon have the first episode up. See ya till then!**


	2. Episode 1: Lost and Found

**This turned out longer than I thought. Bear with me, everybody. So this series is going to be a series of at least thirty or so episodes. Otherwise, enjoy the first episode!**

* * *

**Pilot: Lost and found**

**Wings' Video Log attempt #17.5**  
**Wings: **Ello, ello, this is Wings the Parrot here again. This is our first job in 14 days and—

**Terra: **Mate! JUST SAY TWO WEEKS!

**Wings:** Terra, stop ruining my video logs! This is the 17.5th one you've—

**Mikey: **Listen, Wings, just call it at seventeen and a half video logs, will ya?

**Wings: ***groan*...*whispering* I'm still gonna record.

_**Please Stand By**_

**Wings' Video Log attempt #18**  
**Wings:** Ello, ello, this is Wings the Parrot here again.

**Vite:** *climbs out from behind a rock* Hey! That turkey just took my lunch! *climbs over, runs over Wings*

**Wings:** *shriek*

_**Please Stand By**_

**Wings' Video Log attempt #19**  
**Wings:** *in frustration* ELLO ELLO! This is Wings the Parrot here again! Now before I get my tail feather in another twist or run over again, this is the first job we've gotten in TWO WEEKS! Are you happy now?

**Plat:** Peachy. *rolls eyes*

**Wings:** Yes, great...um, I'm not sure who the guy was that set us the job but uh—wait, don't get me wrong, I saw his face...I just didn't know who he was _exactly._ And my brain can't be bothered processing names at this time of morning. I can't think straight at 5.30 in the morning.

**Plat:** Mate, it was a guy with orange eyebrows, a long white beard like Santa Claus, he was wearing an orange and green bathrobe-type...thing, and he looked like a bear. Maybe our viewers will know this when we send this on air back home.

**Wings:** Okay, now that was _not _a bear! I know that for a _fact,_ Platinum.

**Plat:** Yea-huh? Well, he was _too furry_ to be a hippo, a walrus, or a rhino! So I say he was a _bear!_

**Wings:** Anyway, beside the point. We have been set out very first job! Yay! And Terra and Mikey just tagged along with us. *in a failed epic voice* Our code name is the Demon Eye's Resistance. And our—

**Plat:** WINGS! That's the resistance we just came from. This isn't a codename!

**Wings:** *trying to ignore her* Our mission is to...*back to normal voice* Plat, what's our job again?

**Plat:** Our job is to get rid of the leftover Quinkan in New Burramudgee, and the guy that gave us the job said that he would give us the heads-up from there.

**Vite:** *randomly appears out of nowhere* I figured out the name of the guy cause I didn't hear him properly before! His name was Man the Gull.

**Plat:**...Man...the Gull...are you sure that's it? Too big to be a gull, don't ya think?

**Wings:** Man the Gull? Don't you mean _Nandu Gili_ the Bunyip Elder?

**Plat:** How did you get Nandu Gili out of Man the Gull?

**Wings: **I've read heaps about the Bunyip Lore. The Bunyip Elder looks after and watches over the Bunyips over thousands of years.

**Plat:** Let's just face it, you're practically more brain than actual body. Also, here's something that's been bothering me. If that's the Bunyip Elder, why the heck would he want to give us a job?

**Wings:** *back in epic voice* That remains a mystery, my dear Platinum.

**Plat:** I swear, you do that again and I'm _seriously_ going to clobber you!

**Mikey:** Guys we're here!

**Wings:** Excellent timing, boss!

_**End Recording**_

* * *

When the team looked around at the estate, they thought they'd just entered a nuclear field—judging by how barren it looked. Terra straightened her blue jacket with sleeves torn off. "Well, this has been a great trip. I think I'll just turn around and head home now," she said as she turned to leave, but Vite grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and dragged her back.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny, don't think you're getting off that easily, Terra. I don't wanna be here either but, uh..." Something distracted Vite and he pointed at it. "There's a wallabe over there. Mikey can we go look around? Please please please please!?" he begged, suddenly letting go of his dingo friend.

"You just want to chase after that wallabe, don't ya?" Mikey smirked. "Just don't go far and follow the guidelines I gave you back at base, mate."

"YAY! WHOO!" And with that, Vite disappeared again. Terra and Wings cheered too and ran towards the town of Burramudgee. Mikey then sighed and looked at Plat, who was standing there with a dazed look on her face. The Tasmanian Devil nudged his deputy and she glared up at him.

"Make sure they don't get into trouble, Plat."

"But they're split up, what makes you think I'll keep an eye on them all _at once_?" she inquired. It was obvious that she didn't want to do this simple task, but the leader ignored her.

"Just do it, please."

Plat sweatdropped and flicked his muzzle by flicking her fingers at him. "Fine, just so you'll stop nagging me about it." She sauntered into the town gates muttering curses to herself.

*there would be a title sequence here! I'll make one up and post it on YouTube. ;)*

* * *

_**6.30am**_  
It was a nice, quiet morning in New Burramudgee. A few weeks ago, the Bush Rescue Team had celebrated the defeat of the Quinking by rebuilding the Bush Rescue HQ on the south side of Burramudgee.

Ty jumped out of his makeshift bed, stretched his limbs and then walked into the kitchen to go check the Bush Rescue Callsheet.

Nobody needed help today.

This was a very rare occasion, especially after the attack of the Quinkan on Southern Rivers, and Ty was willing to put this to good use. Straight after breakfast, though, because last night he accidentally skipped dinner to do one last job—and he was starving!

Once he'd served himself breakfast—a bowl of cereal with a glass of juice—his brother came stumbling in the hallway tiredly from Julius' lab.

"Morning Sly...remind me next time not to skip dinner again," he greeted.

"Right. Remind me not to go to sleep after 2 in the morning, bro," Sly responded, rubbing his eyes and walking over to sit next to his brother.

"What were you doing last night?"

"Working on a few prototypes...which reminds me, I want you to test some of 'em out today."

There was a crash outside which made the two brothers jump slightly. Ty looked at Sly with a knowing look, and they both ran outside to see Ridge tripping over his own feet carrying three boxes of Thunder Eggs.

"Huh. Morning Ridge!" Sly called out. The darker tiger, who was busy dusting himself off, rose to his feet and managed to pull of a small smile—though most of the annoyance seemed to appear in it. The brothers walked over to their friend. "Need a hand, mate?"

"That won't be..." Ridge started to protest, but then he knew that he couldn't carry as much as three tonnes of rocks with their cores exposed, so he just gave up convincing himself that he can. "Yeah, fine."

"Crikey, did Dennis set you up to a job in mining or something?" Ty grunted, picking up one of the boxes and almost dropped it again from how heavy it was.

"I saw something in one of those boxes and it's been bothering me for a while."

"Another Thunder egg, maybe?"

"No, this is serious. There was something gold in there and it flashed in my eye—hence why I tripped in the first place."

"Gold?" the orange tiger queried. He put down the box he was carrying and then opened it, searching for the object the eldest was talking about. He grabbed a hold of something sleek, instead of the rough contours of a Thunder Egg, and pulled it out of the box. Ridge shielded his eyes from the glint of gold in the sunlight and then stared at the object in confusion. "That's it. How did that get in there?"

In the orange Thylacine's hand was one of the Bunyip Talismans. And the reaction of the talisman with Ty's bunyip gauntlet managed to bring chaos onto the area. First a bright light began to shine on the gauntlet, and the light began to expand, then shards of energy began to shoot from the talisman around the airstrip, causing the three to run around dodging the projectiles. One shot past and skimmed across Ty's back. Another skimmed across Sly's muzzle. Ridge narrowly dodged one that was coming for his head but was struck by another which scratched his arm.

When the light faded, they found themselves somewhere else. They were in a dark void, with strange patterns in the skies which glowed everytime there was a flash of lightning. Ty recognised the place almost instantly.

"Guys, I think we're in the Dreaming," he told Sly and Ridge.

Sly rubbed the scratch forming on his muzzle. "Great." Anger flared in his icy eyes, but his face was dangerously relaxed. Ridge stared at him in alarm, but kept his intentions to getting out of this place.

"How did you get out of here last time, Ty?" the dark tiger asked, trying to avoid Sly's fierce glare into the middle-distance—for all he knew a glare like that could burn holes into the side of people's heads.

"Shaz and I made it to the top of the citadel up there and Nandu Gili the Bunyip Elder sent us back through the portal...but I don't see it in this place."

Suddeny a light appeared out of nowhere and made the three tigers step back in alarm. Ty's figure relaxed a little when he realized what it was. It was a holographic message of the Bunyip Elder.

_"Ty, I'm afraid I have brought you here under limited circumstances." _

"This is creepy," Ridge said, swiping his hand through the hologram.

_"Should the bunyip gauntlet ever come into contact with an ancient talisman, a failsafe will commence to send you to the Dreaming. And of course, that would mean that the time has come for the ultimate threat to your world and ours." _

"Ultimate threat? I thought the Quinkan would be the Ultimate Threat to both our worlds," Sly said.

_"This world now has been drained of life, as it seems Boss Cass is in the process of harnessing the Bunyips' power to create an unstoppable army to take over both worlds. He requires all ten of the bunyip protectors' power and thus far has absorbed the energy of three. What I know is your past lives will come back to haunt you and that is how you will fight Cass. I shall tell you more once you find what has been left behind." _

A vortex quickly opened in place of the hologram, swallowing the tigers and sending them falling into a dizzying void of light.

* * *

_**7.15am**_  
The three came flying out of the portal and landing outside of Bush Rescue HQ...and right in front of Shazza, Maurie and Dennis. Ty shook his head and looked up to see them. Sly and Ridge sat up with bruises forming on their heads.

"Struth! Where did you lot come from?" Maurie exclaimed as he pulled Ty to his feet.

"Uh, well—" Ty began but was cut off by Dennis' sudden outburst.

"My precious thunder eggs!" he cried, causing all three tigers to sweatdrop anxiously as he ran over to the boxes on the airstrip. "Are they okay?"

"Hopefully...if most of them seem broken then you can blame the Bunyip Elder for that!" Ridge called out, yelping as Sly elbowed his side.

"The Bunyip Elder?" Shazza asked, but then she realized what happened—the boys were in the Dreaming. "Possum, what were you guys doing in the Dreaming?"

"I don't know, but he said something about—"

"—about the power of the bunyips being harnessed by Cass and that he required the power of ten bunyip protectors—and he's already downed three of them," Sly finished.

"Did he say anything else after that?"

"Er...'Your past lives will come back to haunt you and that's how you'll fight Cass'. But I don't understand what that means."

"It's probably a riddle. What's left in the past?"

"Scratch that! What _haunted _us in the past?" Ridge said, clicking his fingers.

The five all thought it over for a few seconds, focusing their minds, and then Sly cringed. "Bad memories. Involving family, I'm not sure who though, I can't see their faces properly."

It struck Ty immediately. "That's it! Family! Maybe there's _more_ of us wanting to bring down Cass!"

Maurie sat there thinking it over and then looked at them all. "Maybe you're right, mate. And if you are, then it's our job to start looking for them."

* * *

_**7.30am**_  
After fifteen more minutes of getting ready for the day, Bush Rescue had gotten a message from Bri; Ty and Sly's father.

_"Boys, you wouldn't believe this! There're five spiderquins heading toward New Burramudgee! There must have been some left over from the blast. Can you meet me outside the town gates?" _

"Quinkan? Really?" Sly asked in alarm as the transmission ended.

"Quinkan that narrowly avoided being destroyed. Let's go, guys!" Ty shouted, grabbing the ironbark boomerangs off the desk. Sly and Ridge glanced toward each other and then shrugged. Sly grabbed his Deadlyrangs and one of the earpieces Julius had invented. Ridge grabbed his Ultrarangs and secured the other earpiece on his head.

"Does anybody remember anyone from the past?" Ridge queried as he rubbed his blind eye. "After going on my own for ages I hardly remember a thing. Especially after the incident with the frills a few years back."

"There was one kid eighteen years ago, about the same age as Ty, but I can't see him. I can hear him—he has a lisp...and it _really_ annoys me," Sly responded, cringing as he heard the voice again.

_"I wiss I could twavel awound Shouthern Wiversh...Sho, what were you going to wiss for, Shly?"_ the voice said in a brazen, taunting four-year-old's voice.

The rusty tiger snarled in frustration. "That kid's voice _annoys_ me!"

"Do you think you'll recognise him now? Need I remind you that you didn't even recognize _me_ when we first saw each other again?" Ty said, causing the older brother's ears to drop. "Sorry for bringing it up."

"It's fine." Another thought crossed his mind and he smirked. "Since we're not working for Cass anymore, after this, we should drive the Gunyip through his house, whaddya think?"

Ty just rolled his eyes in return as they made their way into Burramudgee.

Sure enough, five quinkan were making a mess of New Burramudgee. From there, the three decided to split up and take on one each. Wasn't the brightest idea, considering there were only three of them taking on one each, but it was the only one they had at the moment. And plus, Sly had the new prototypes he wanted to test out. Here's to hoping they're a success!

* * *

_**7.45am**_  
"Hey, Terra, I just figured out what that guy said to us!" Vite exclaimed.

"Really? What is it?" Terra asked.

"The answer is in the sentence—something that haunts us from the past! Do you remember _anything_ that haunted you? Anything at all?"

The two had made their ways towards some kind of bordered town by the name of New Burramudgee. Sounded familiar, they weren't sure why, however.

"Yeah, I'm standing right next to it," Terra said, dryly. "And I've lived with it for five years."

"Aside from me, because we all know who I am. I remember something that haunts me but I haven't seen them in a long time."

"Wait. _Them?_ How many of _them_ are there?"

The tiger took into account her rather stunned expression and explained. "Only two of 'em. They're my cousins, I haven't seen them in a little while—at least eighteen years now—"

"Yeah, not long at_ all._"

"—but I can _still_ remember them! The day Boss Cass tried to seal all mammals in the Dreaming, I was trying to find my parents in the early morning because they said they were going fishing..."

Terra saw that there was something interesting hiding behind Vite's past. She was a little flustered, though, when Vite started staring off into the middle distance, zoning out. "_AND?"_ she prompted, impatiently, wanting him to finish his sentence.

Vite blinked slowly and then turned his head to her. "Turns out they lied. They'd gone to defeat Cass. Of course, it didn't seem like they won because they were all sealed in the Dreaming...except for four others that I know—Plat you know, that _mysterious_ older brother of hers, then there were my cousins. They were both saved by the Bilby family, but one had suddenly disappeared two years later. I didn't know what happened to him and that's what haunts me—knowing that the other one is gone."

Terra closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to remember the incident that was in the newspapers about a Tasmanian Tiger working for Boss Cass a few years ago. "One of these kids wouldn't happen to be one that's worked with Cass before, right? About, uh, yay high, blue eyes, light orange fur; looks a little rusty? I think he was at least sixteen when that happened."

Vite froze, astonished. He had read about it but he thought it was somebody else. Then again, he only knew one tiger with that description. "Struth! That's the eldest one of 'em! Heh, I used to visit him and his brother in the summer, mainly because I didn't have anything better to do and I like to travel. He was always annoyed with me because I kept stealing his wishes—the three of us used to star gaze a lot whenever I did get to visit. But I think it was because of my voice because I had this really bad lisp back then."

"Oh, that's probably why Plat calls you Lispy!"

The dark gold tiger frowned and turned red. "Yeah," he muttered in embarrassment, his cheeks burning up.

Vite and Terra trudged down the dusty path into the town and almost shrieked in alarm at the sight of it!

"What the heck are those things!?" Terra shrieked when she saw some kind of huge red spider with a glowing blue head. There were five of the giant creatures and they were making their way towards the town!

Giant spiders, boomerangs flying everywhere—

Wait a second...boomerangs?

"Heads up, mate!" Terra called out to Vite, casually as if she were expecting something to happen.

And one came around and almost hit his head—if he hadn't caught it, that is.

"Uh oh. I know boomerangs when I see them," Vite muttered to his friend. Then he squinted at the design of it and almost dropped it. Dark grey, a skull, two bones, orange stripes on the tips of the boomerang...

"No way! I know these boomerangs!" A memory clouded his vision.

_**Flashback**__—__**18 years ago**_  
_The boomerangs Vite had seen were now in the hands of a five year old rusty tiger with gunmetal blue eyes. The eyes sparked it off a little—he knew exactly who this kid was. _

_It had been a while, but he still remembered the face of his elder cousin. Beside him stood a four year old gold tiger—not exactly as dark as he was—with green eyes, and two ironbark boomerangs. The younger brother of the elder tiger but the same age as Vite was at the time, maybe a month younger than he was. The eldest tiger chuckled. _

_"Okay, Vite! You and Ty go down that end of the yard, I'll throw one of these, and you have to catch it," the rusty tiger explained, a grin adorning his features. Vite and the gold tiger nodded vigorously and ran over to the other edge of the backyard, where there stood a giant eucalyptus tree with a DIY playground built along its limbs—hand-crafted by Vite and his cousins._

_"Ready?" _

_"Yeah Sly!" Ty had shouted. _

_Sly put his right foot behind him and held the boomerangs in position. "Set!" _

_Vite was moving his feet quickly back and forth. At that point Sly had shouted "GO!" and spun on his heels swiftly in a cyclone of blurred colors, throwing the boomerangs forward. Ty saw one heading for the old shack in the corner of the yard and ran after it. Vite saw the other headed for the tree. The two gold tigers thought quickly—Ty ran over to the shack and jumped up and over the scattered crates that lay around it and caught the boomerang in his right hand, flipping in middair and landing on the ground lightly. _

_"GOT IT!" he shouted, holding the boomerang in the air. _

_Vite sped over to the tree and climbed through the varying obstacles of the playground [the tire swings, the rope bridge, the ladder] and saw the boomerang just in his reach if he picked up the pace. He jumped over the boarded barrier and only barely got a hold of the boomerang, but not a very great foothold. He felt himself plummeting straight out of the tree, his lunch was rising up into his throat. However, the fall ended quickly as he landed in the pile of fallen eucalyptus leaves left at the bottom. _

_"WOOHOO! That wash wipper!" the dark gold tiger shouted, throwing his arms up. _

_**End of Flashback**_

"My _cousins_ live here!?" he shouted in surprise. Then he chuckled, excitedly. "Okay, then I gotta go find them. Terra, stay outta trouble, you're on your own! WHOO!" the dark gold tiger shouted as he ran off, leaving the pink-haired dingo on her own once again. She raised her arms in disorder and was about to protest that Mikey said to follow the rules. Then again, she didn't live by rules—especially Mikey's—and she walked over to the town square.

_Don't worry, Vite. It's not _me_ you should be worried about,_ she thought to herself, smugly, as she thought of the trouble he was going to get in. The last time the dark gold tiger was left on his own he got caught out by the police because he was snooping around the bank! Fortunately for him though, it seemed that Vite had sniffed out three burglars trying to rob them blind.

Suddenly Terra bumped into somebody carrying a bunch of crates and fell back. "Ow," she complained. "I landed on my tail."

"Sorry, there. Didn't see ya," a voice said to her. The dingo just shot to her feet lightly.

"That was my fault, sorry...wait a second..." Terra took another look at who she bumped into and saw a Tasmanian Devil with burgandy eyes that seemed more like red, black fur with white patches, even his outfit seemed familiar to her—except the clothes were beige instead of blue. "Hey, mate, you don't happen to be related to Mikey, do ya?"

The Tasmanian Devil looked at her in surprise. "Mikey? He's my nephew. My name's Ranger Ken," he told her, scanning her up and down too. "_You_ don't happen to be related to Shazza and Naomi, do ya?"

"You know my cousins? Name's Terra." She held out her hand to Ken and he shook it energetically. She had been prepared for that—Mikey did that handshake to her so many times she was just used to it now. Now she could see just who he gets it from.

"Yeah, they work for Bush Rescue. I could take you to them now if you like!"

"Much obliged, mate."

* * *

_**7.55am**_  
"Platinum the Tasmanian Tiger!" Mikey yelled into the walkie-talkie. "You tell me when you get this message, alright!?"

After a solid two minutes, the loud girlish voice said over the communicator _"This is Plat here. What's with the yelling?" _

The Tasmanian Devil was a little startled by her sudden report and replied "I just did a satellite scan on town. It turns out that New Burramudgee is practically _swarming_ with members of our families!"

_"Well, great! But why did you sound so creeped out when you voice-mailed?" _

"Well, it's also swarming with frills, blue tongues and those leftover Quinkan we talked about back home."

Plat cringed, knowing what he was going to say next. "And you want me to do...what? Because I have that sinking feeling that I already know what it is."

_"Sorry, Plat. But you're gonna have to get the others. Remember what that riddle was_—_your past lives will come back to haunt you, whatever that means.__"_

"I hate you, boss," the tiger said, jokily before she hung up. But seriously, this job was no laughing matter. She hadn't seen anyone from her family in eighteen years now, hence her brother—who thought it would be a great idea to go by a six year old's plan to go treasure hunting, and who she hasn't seen in sixteen years.

"Your past lives will come back to haunt you, _then_ that's how you'll fight Cass—I hate riddles like this and you have to crack them!" Plat complained to herself.

Well, whatever the solution was, it's gotta be haunting. At first she thought it would be Vite and Terra, but that wasn't scary—no, _that_ was just another stressful job that never ends! She'd never had any troubles before she joined the resistance. She was seven when she was found by the first leader of the Demon Eye's Resistance, Max, Mikey's father. He took her in after the first incident with Boss Cass trying to seal all mammals into the Dreaming.

She'd lost contact with her older brother after they both raced off from Rainbow Cliffs. Plat shook her head and realized the answer to the riddle.

_Our past lives will come back to haunt us...that's it!_ "I know what I gotta do now! I need to find my brother!"

The only picture she had of him was when she was home with her family—her older sister, her brother, her mum and dad. She never saw her parents or her sister ever again after that incident—she missed all of them. Her brother was a dark-furred tiger with midnight blue eyes. There was a paint-streak running across his muzzle and his fringe flicked one way and covered some of his right eye. The picture sat on a desk back in the Resistance base.

"Okay, here's to hoping he's actually around these parts," she said to herself, running off again.

* * *

_**8.30am**_  
"Am I gonna find my cousins again?" Vite asked himself. He'd been wandering around this place for the last hour and a half and still didn't find a trace of anything. It was surprising how his cousin lived up to his namesake, but this was now just getting ridiculous. He didn't know what he looked like—nor the youngest one out of all three of them—but he was sure that, once he saw them, he'll know exactly who they are.

In frustration, Vite threw the boomerang in the air and it flew off, stearing itself to one target. "Oh no, come back!" he muttered in a high-pitched panicky voice. In alarm he started chasing it and froze when he heard the boomerang hit someone.

"Uh oh," he said, running around the corner to see the familiar rusty hue of a certain tiger's fur. Vite stiffened, as did the other tiger when he shot his icy blue eyes up to meet the mismatched eyes.

Rusty fur? Icy blue eyes? That shark-tooth necklace? The five year old tiger with the messy hair, the mischievious grin and the determined glint in his eyes replaced what the dark-gold tiger saw in front of him.

"Sly!" Vite shouted, tackling the tiger back down to the ground. Hard. So hard that he could've sworn he felt the ground shake—rugby league practice had certainly paid off.

"Agh! Who are you?" the rusty tiger gasped, his air cutting off from hitting the ground.

"Don't play dumb, Sly, I know that brain of yours still works! Unless Cass did some kind of sick experiment to screw it up!" the dark gold tiger said, pinning him to the ground and placing his foot on his chest. Sly's eyes shrank—how did this kid know him? Subtly reaching out for the boomerang next to him, he threw it robustly at the dark gold tiger, who flew back and brought out a pair of Multirangs while landing lightly on his right foot.

"Whoa!" Sly shouted as he was suddenly jumping from one canyon face to the other dodging the multiple rangs flying for him. This is a time where Sly was actually glad he took up dodgeball for grading. The rusty tiger found that the dark gold one was actually getting tired of throwing until—

SMACK!

One rang had hit him in the lower back at one point, catching him off balance, and he fell to the ground.

"Whoa. Actually got him that time," Vite said in amazement. He chuckled in self-satisfaction.

"Ow..." Sly shook his head—in disbelief, surprise and pain. This kid wasn't going to give up without a fight, and if that's what he wanted, then the rusty tiger wasn't going to give up either. "You still haven't answered my question, kid!"

"I'll answer or not as I please! So, not yet, till you admit you remember me!" Instead of rushing over to help the older tiger to his feet, he threw another Multirang toward him. Sly rolled to the side and shot to his feet before the rang hit him again. The gold tiger's stance caught him by surprise—standing side-on, one foot behind the other, back arched slightly, mismatched eyes locked on his target. Then he threw four more rangs at an insane speed which Sly couldn't even counter, and they all hit him—one at his left foot, two at his face, and the last at his side—sending him falling down again.

_Those moves...nobody knows moves like that except me and Ty!_ Sly shouted mentally in shock.

* * *

_**9.00am**_  
Wings had ventured off and found a quiet place behind some kind of warehouse. He pulled out the camera he had in his jacket pocket and was about to turn it on when all these little wallabes came over. He patted one on the head and chuckled when it nuzzled his wing. He switched the camera on and started recording.

**Wings' Video Log #4**  
**Wings:** Ello, ello! This is Wings the Parrot here for video log number...uh, random number 127! And I'm here in New Burramudgee with a wallabe! Ain't this li'l guy just the cutest? *scratches wallabe behind the ears* It's like a little cat. Wait I hate cats. Uh—forget the cat, I like wallabes! They act all smoochy when ya scratch 'em behind the ears like this.

**Maurie:** Wings? Blimey, Wings the Parrot! What're you doing here?

**Wings:** *gasp* Pop? *turns back to the camera* Gotta go guys, see ya!

_**End recording**_

Wings flew up to Maurie and almost bowled him over, bursting into laughter. He felt like a kid again, seeing his grandfather for the first time in 10 years.

"Struth, steady on! Look at you, you've had a growth spurt since the last time I saw you, mate," Maurie commented.

"I'm eighteen now, Pop." Wings smiled and then frowned suddenly. The cockatoo noticed this.

"What's wrong?"

"Well...the resistance I work for was set a job and...I kinda went off on my own to find the answer to this riddle: 'Your past lives will come back to haunt you.'"

Maurie seemed rather surprised with this information and backed away from him a few inches._ 'Your past lives will come back to haunt you...' That's what the Bunyip Elder told Ty and the boys._ He flew over to stand at the balcony of the warehouse. "Wings, come in here." The parrot looked around in bewilderment and then shrugged and followed him inside. "How many of you are there? We gotta get them all here."

"Oh, uh...other than me, there's Mikey, Plat, Terra and Vite in the whole Resistance. And we all came here because of the job this guy gave us. Plat kept saying he was a bear with a Santa Beard."

_Nice description for a Bunyip Elder. _"Okay, go sit over there and I'll tell the others to get here." Wings did as he was told and flew over to sit at a computer desk with a picture of three Tasmanian Tigers—one with leaf green eyes and gold fur, one with gunmetal blue eyes and rusty fur, and one with one midnight blue eye, a clouded eye and dark brown fur.

"Two of those kids look like they're related to Vite..." he told himself in astonishment at how alike the gold and the rusty tigers looked to Vite. The dark tiger—he had navy blue eyes like Plat's, maybe he was related to her. Either way, he pulled out his walkie-talkie and tried to get in touch with Vite to tell him.

* * *

_**9.10am**_  
Sly had enough of the dark-gold tiger now. The kid threw another boomerang at Sly's head and he fell to the ground again. That was it—he didn't want to fight this stranger anymore. Who was he? Where'd he come from? How did he know Sly, for all that matter?

"Come on, mate, this isn't fun anymore," the younger of the two said with a smirk as he caught the boomerang again. He was poised to throw the boomerang again, but then the elder one lifted his hand up, signalling him to stop.

"Answer my question! Who are you?" the rusty tiger demanded, getting to his feet while nursing a flourishing bruise on his head. But that was just the least of his worries right now. The fact that his opponent hadn't even given him a fair chance, and that _he_ was the one battered and bruised overwhelmed him.

A confused look spawned in the stranger's face—he was telling the truth? He really didn't remember him? "Has it really been _that _long?" The gold tiger shook his head in slight shock and utter confusion—he should've seen that coming to him. That cassowary _did_ after all brainwash him into thinking his parents didn't care about him so they ditched him.

"Believe me, we're closer than you might think, mate. My name's Vite. And if you're Sly, and your little bro's Ty, then that means you're one of my cousins!"

"What?" At that point, a long forgotten memory flashed in the back of Sly's mind.

_**Flashback**_—_**18 years ago**_  
_It was night time now_—_stars were shining brightly as most of them arched across the night sky, the backyard of the Bilby Family's ranch was rather quiet tonight; aside from the chirping crickets, the rush of water from the waterfalls that surrounded the area, and __the occasional chatter of three Tasmanian Tigers who were running over to the giant eucalyptus tree._

_Four year olds, Ty and Vite, scurried over to the tree and started to scale up to the different levels of it_—_Vite perched on one branch, Ty sitting on the rope bridge which acted like an automatic hammock__. Five year old Sly kept his feet planted on the ground, laid back on the grass, back lying against the tree's base, and then he pointed up at the sky. A flash of light arched across the midnight sky. _

_"Shooting star!" he exclaimed. He was going to have his try on a wish but, once again, his cousin just had to steal that chance. _

_"I wiss I could twavel awound Shouthern Wiversh," Vite said. Even then, the lisp seemed to irritate Sly, because now he was cringing and his ears flattened in annoyance. _

_"I spotted it first," he muttered, crossing his arms in disappointment. That was the fifth wish Vite had stolen off him that night. _

_"Sho, what were you going to wiss for, Shly?" _

_"Look there's another one!" Ty shouted as another light shot across the sky. He clasped his hands together and clenched his eyes shut. Vite and Sly looked at him eagerly_—_it seemed whenever Ty made a wish like that, things take a turn for the better. _

_"What'd ya wiss for?" Vite asked, irritating the eldest again. The orange tiger just smiled innocently and watched the sky again. He never did tell the wishes he made to his brother or cousin. This didn't really bother them, considering that if they told the wishes out loud, then it won't come true. _

_Sly smirked at the theory. "Your wish isn't gonna come true, Vite, you said yours out loud."_

_Vite was about to say something smug back to him, but then he began to calculate his math and facepalmed. "Blimey, evewytime!" _

_**End of Flashback**_

"Oh, right..._you_ were the kid with the annoying lisp, _weren't_ you?" Sly taunted cheekily as he snapped out of his flashback. The damage had been overlooked—now he was set on teasing Vite. Strangely he felt like he was five years old again and having those pointless arguments with Vite.

"Hey, I had _years_ of practise trying to get rid of it, mate!" Vite argued, a vein popping on his head and he blushed deeply.

_Ridge said that same thing when he said he can pull off modesty,_ the rusty tiger thought, rolling his eyes at the thought.

"I don't understand how you don't remember me! It was just eighteen years ago..." Vite started to complain, but then he thought of something. "Crikey, Terra's right—that does sound like ages."

"I didn't even remember Ty when I first saw him again," Sly muttered to himself, then he turned to his apparent cousin. "Why is it you chose to come here _now_ and not other times? Times when I still properly _remembered_ you, maybe?"

Vite crossed his arms and stood there stubbornly. "I got busy. I got a job in the Resistance."

"There's more of you?"

"Yeah, just me, Mikey, Plat, Terra and Wings—pretty much my whole resistance. It was just supposed to be me, Plat and Wings going out on this job, but then Terra decided to tag along because she said it'll be a good thing to learn more about our teammates. Then Mikey just decided to tag along too if that was the case, but I think it was because he didn't want to be left alone for a few weeks."

"Just out of curiosity...what _is_ this job you're doing?"

"Well, uh—actually I'm glad you asked. It seems that we're—"

A small beeping noise was heard coming from the dark tiger's pocket and he reached into it, bringing out a walkie-talkie. "Wings, what's up?"

_"Vite, you're not gonna believe this! I found a picture of three Tasmanian Tigers_—_two of 'em look just like you! Except one's a lighter gold color with two _normal_ green eyes and the other's_—"

"—got rusty fur with blue eyes. Yeah, I know," Vite finished, knowingly, looking at Sly, who looked at the walkie-talkie in confusion.

_"How do you know that?"_

"He's standing right here."

_"Oh, okay, that's one kid down. The last tiger looks kind of like Plat, except one eye's blind and he's got dark brown fur. Do you think he's like a cousin or something?" _

"That's Ridge," the rusty tiger spoke up. The person over the walkie-talkie heard this and gasped a little.

_"You mean Plat's_—_ooh. HAHA! I KNEW that kid looked too familiar!"_

"You should tell Plat! Where are you now?"

_"Uh...Bush Rescue HQ south of New Burramudgee."_

"Okay, we'll see you back there. You _are_ happy to see me right, Sly?" Vite asked as he put the walkie talkie away and noticed his cousin's bitter expression.

Sly smiled slightly, grabbed the collar of his blue jacket and pulled him in the direction of the HQ.

"Despite the first impression...yeah, Vite."

* * *

_**9.25am**_  
Ridge was walking through New Burramudgee to get back to the HQ where everybody else was apparently waiting.

"Ridge!" a girlish voice shouted behind him.

The dark tiger spun swiftly on his heels and saw a familiar face. It was a cream-colored tiger with dark blue eyes like his. She had short and scruffy tawny-brown hair that shot out in all directions. Once he turned around, she was already bashing into him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Calm down! Do I know you?" he asked, sweatdropping, as he patted her gauchely on the back.

"What? You don't remember me? It's me! Platinum!" she said, still hugging him.

_**Flashback**_—_**16 years ago**_  
_Six year old Plat yawned and covered her mouth. She and nine-year-old Ridge had been looking for their parents and their sister, only to lose their trail very quickly once they reached Rainbow Cliffs._

_"Why are we here?" Plat complained. _

_"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Ridge said, peeking his head out of the bushes. _

_"Are we gonna be long? I wanna go home!" the cream tiger whined. _

_"I don't care, Plat, we're not going home!" the dark tiger whispered sharply. _

_"Why not?" _

_"It's not safe there_—_especially with Cass looking for the talismans!" _

_Plat clicked her fingers. "I got an idea. We could look for the talismans ourselves before Cass does. We can split up and look for them ourselves. Think of it as this big race_—_first one who finds them wins. But we need to make it back here, Rainbow Cliffs is the finish line, alright?" _

_"Fine. But if this gets us both killed, I'll strangle you in the afterlife," the older tiger said, out of ideas. _

_"Great, see ya at the finish line, bro!" And with that, the two dashed off in two different directions, unaware of the events that lay ahead of them. _

_**End of Flashback**_

"Now I remember...how did I fall for a six-year-old's plan?" Ridge asked as he snapped out of the flashback.

"Uhh..." Plat backed away from her brother and scratched her head. "Maybe that was a bad idea to go after the talismans. I made it back to Rainbow Cliffs after I _couldn't_ find them and saw that they were restored but you weren't there. And I actually thought you were hurt! So I went out looking for you!"

Ridge fingered the blind eye and flinched at the memory of the frill lizards swarming over him. "Uh, Ridge?" Plat spoke up, noticing how her brother flinched and then just froze.

"Ridge...?" She waved her hand in front of his face. "You reminding me of Terra with those epileptic blankouts."

Unexpectedly, the dark tiger's left ear twitched and he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way of a lazer coming toward them. He brought out his Ultrarangs and his sister pulled out her fists.

"What was that?" she asked, on edge now.

"Come on!" Ridge threw one Ultrarang at one of the frills that were coming for the two. The Ultrarang hit one frill, then flew back and hit five others in the eyes, giving the tigers enough time to run through the gates. Plat swung her fists at the frills and knocked down at least six of them and ran through the gates too—in time to see the console that controls the gate in flames.

"Uh...that console's on fire," she pointed out.

"Again with the console," Ridge muttered as sparks flew towards him. One flame landed on his shoulder but he patted it out casually like it didn't burn at all—which wasn't exactly true. It melted through his cape and singed his shoulder, but he tried to act like he didn't care—after all, it could be a lot worse.

"Outta my way, bro! I know stuff like this!" Plat said urgently, not waiting for a response from her older brother because she shoved him forcefully to the side. She pushed a couple of buttons on the console, and had sparks thrown at her face.

"Ow, hot hot hot!" she shrieked, clawing her face like she was wiping the sparks off her face, and then she kick-started the console—literally. She got into another fighting position and roundhouse-kicked the panel as hard as she could. The hangar door slammed closed and the sparks stopped flying towards them. She exhaled while rolling her eyes. "Case closed. Ten years ago, I had _no_ idea how to work one of these things."

The memories began to spark in the dark Tasmanian Tiger's mind—she was definitely his sister. She acted like it especially—the way he remembered the little six year old girl with the wild personality and the stupidest ideas.

Something beeped in Plat's pocket and she brought out a walkie-talkie. "Yeah, hey, Wings. What's up?"

The earpiece on Ridge's head flashed and he pressed the flashing green button. "Maurie, what is it?"

_"Plat, you're not gonna believe this!"_ Wings said in Plat's walkie-talkie.

_"Ridge, mate, I need you to get back to base," _Maurie said in the earpiece.

"Uh..." Plat started, looking back to see her brother.

"What? Why?" Ridge asked.

_"Well, it seems Vite and I've found a Tasmanian Tiger that looks exactly like you except_—"

"What? He's got dark brown fur, one blind eye and he's, like, _three _years older than me?" Plat said.

_"My grandson, Wings, is talking about a cream-colored tiger that_—"

"She wouldn't happen to be related to me, would she?" Ridge queried.

Of course, both birds over the lines were taken back by surprise and both asked _"How do you know that?"_

The two tigers looked at each other mischieviously and switched communication devices.

"That'd be me, mate!" they both said in unison into the devices.

It sounded like Wings got a bit of a fright when he heard Ridge's voice—Maurie no less with Plat's.

_"Why didn't Ridge tell us he had a sister?"_

"Possibility he forgot about me—after all, I think it's almost been sixteen and a half years now."

_"Struth! So _you're_ Plat's mysterious older bro, huh?" _Wings said to Ridge in the walkie-talkie.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Trading back, now!" Plat warned, putting the earpiece back on her brother's head and snatching the walkie-talkie out of his hand. "Wings, we need the rest of the team. Where are you right now?"

_"I know that! I'm at Bush Rescue HQ on the south end." _

"Okay...I don't know where that is," the cream tiger said, looking around hopelessly.

"Stop worrying, I know where it is," her brother said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the base.

* * *

**There. Longest chapter I've ever written for anything, I think it kinda drags a bit at the end. Don't worry, not all the chapters are going to be this long! ^U^**

**Next Episode: Bush Rescue and the Resistance try to find a little more background on what they're dealing with and who they're siding with. But what has Cass got in store for them? And how will they all stop him now? **

**Stay tuned for the next episode of TY THE TASMANIAN TIGER: CODE OF THE BUNYIP KEEPERS! (I really need a better name for this show. **-_-'**)**


End file.
